In his meteoric but short career, XXXTentaction conveyed his emotions with such rawness that it stopped hip hop in its tracks. He was never quite there in terms of lyrics and songwriting, though, and SKINS doesn't turn out to be the album where it all finally clicks into place and he creates the masterpiece some believed he was capable of. There are no songs as refined or showing such potential as ?'s “infinity (888)” and “Moonlight”, and many of them feel like half ideas.

The songs are short, not mixed particularly well and—perhaps due to his untimely passing—feel unfinished. Had X been around to see this album all the way through and hash out some of its rushed wrinkles, it has the potential to have been his best project yet. But as it sits right now, Skins renders itself another opportunity for XXXTentacion's cult-like following to continue enjoying new music.

Some of ‘Skins’ is good, some of it is not good. Musically, the tone is, mostly, consistent and effective, and the album’s overall effect is that of a sickly, vivid insight into a troubled life. And there’s not much else to say about it.

One unpalatable explanation for XXXTentacion’s success is that there are people out there stupid or disaffected enough to be turned on by his damaged nihilism. But there’s also just enough evidence of a maverick talent on Skins to make you see why others are willing to hold their noses, ignore the stern op-ed pieces and dive in. Whether you can do that is a matter for your conscience.

It’s possible that this all sounds fresh to XXXTentacion’s core audience of disaffected teenagers—navel-gazing angst, after all, transcends generation—but Skins fails to bring anything genuinely new to the table.

This album is the best example of how greedy the music industry is. All the songs are throwaway beats mixed with some verses that are repeated because they didn't have enough recordings. They barely have enough material for an album....

Putting that aside, this album doesn't have any redeeming quality. Not even Kanye (he's probably the best part on the whole album).

The Lil Peep release felt complete. This trash... I could make this myself in a day. It’s fucking laughable. Easily the worst thing under X’s name. Not even his fault. The label is grave robbing and it is disgusting.

They should have given him a better sendoff than this shit. This is insulting

A scattered arrangement of the progression of X's artistry, a glimpse into what could have been. I found this to be surprisingly enjoyable at parts, X's unique ear for melodies in unorthodox production comes across well here, creating a somewhat cohesive sound throughout the album. There are no particular moments of greatness to be seen here, but it is clear that this is further indication that X could have potentially explored new sounds and ideas if he was still alive. Songs such as 'Guardian ... read more

Its incredibly saddening to me that the way that record labels choose to commemorate their fallen artists is by trying to make as much money off of the clout that comes with their death as possible. :/

This fact aside, lets get into the music of this album. It is comprised of revitalized beats and the small bits of X's unused material that they had lying around and the product is what is essentially a hollow shell of an album with no cohesion. A collection of singles, ... read more